Not a theme park, but a thought to play with

It is better not to be thinking about other things when you meditate, in fact meditation and thinking are mutually opposed to one another!  However, meditation does help thinking in this respect; it helps to detach you from the feelings the thoughts may be associated with.  So, pleasure at the pleasant thought, the successful thought or the delicious food thought or the putting the world right thought or sad thoughts of the things you would rather not happen, those thoughts are put on hold and then if they reappear after meditation, you are much better equipped to deal with them.  You know you aren't them, they are just your thoughts and some of them are just thoughts which float about in the thoughtmosphere.  

Roger Scruton, philosopher

Jacob Rees Mogg

I wanted to think of a way of replying to my Facebook friend who thought blogging for Mogg showed a desire to return to a themed park world of cap doffing to toffs.  For sure that was not what I wanted to show.  So having searched around for a way of explaining what it is that I want to conserve and  why I am a Mogg fan, here is a link to Roger Scruton the thoughtful philosopher who manages to convey what I am not managing to do.  He speaks on the Sunday Programme on BBC Radio 4 Point of View.  He speaks about what being a Conservative means and why it doesn't just mean being a Tory.  I like the Mogg more than most of the other politicians although I do rate Frank Field (not Tory) and Vince Cable too because they seem to have the same quality of being the same on the inside as the outside, being all of a piece with what they say.  

So, I hope that Mr Rees Mogg is that person I believe him to be and although he doesn't wear jeans and has a geekish look to him, he also appears to me to have a goodness of heart and a quiet self-deprecating humour which would help him to keep steady in the face of difficulties.  

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Grannies by the sea, a salty meditation

Do you see the weather coming in? The funny thing about it is that it seems as if there is someone out there making the clouds and sending them towards the grannies and grandpas at Felixstowe ferry.  You may think it is my imagination that there are more grannies there than elsewhere but Felixstowe ferry is right there in the world of what we simple minded grandparents want for our grandchildren.  There are of course parents there too but they tend to be the generation in between the grandparent and the grandchild and they have had the seed of East Anglian holidays with crabs and buckets and mud and beautiful brown sea planted in their hearts since they were children going to the same very unpretentious, smelling slightly of fish seaside spot.  Here there are cockles and winkles and fish and chips, old buckets full of crabs which allow themselves to be caught year after year, day after day, all for a little bit of bacon on a string.  It is our total joy and delight to watch the children pulling the crabs up, squeaking with a mixture of joy and fear of the waving claws.  At the end of the day, the crabs are all let back out again and race sideways to the water.  Some people put bets on which one will win.  Then there is ice cream to be had and cups of tea for the grannies and the taste of the day is all scooped up with the damp towels and like the crabs as the clouds roll in, we all turn round and move sideways with bags and buggies and children and go home to wherever we are staying.

This Granny is blogging for Mogg

 You may wonder why this meditating Grandmother is blogging for Jacob Rees Mogg?  Well this is why I like him so much.  I don't think he is a back stabber, nor do I think he is a caricature conservative both of which he has been accused of.  I don't think he wants to be leader as a matter of personal ambition, nor do I think he wants to oust Theresa May.  He strikes me as someone who really understands what real democracy is and I am beginning to feel the United Kingdom drifting towards an anarchic society by which I mean a society where there is no respect for authority.  He has a natural authority and is polite and good humoured.  Plus which why should he want to be leader when he likes doing what he is doing, being a good constituency MP near his home in Somerset.  

He looks to me like a leader, tall and straight and I like his suits and his ties and his good black polished shoes.  I like the look of his family, they look straightforward and happy and although in the photograph they are sitting inside looking at the camera, they look to me like children who spend time outside.  I think that Jacob Rees Mogg probably reads to them and wouldn't that be nice if you were a Rees Mogg sprog, to have him read and explain things to you in his nice clear voice.  Lots of people I meet aren't ready to consider this Jacob as the new face of democracy but I urge them, I urge you to find out more about him and to consider the alternatives.